Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Welcome to your Spa Day in France! Oui! I hope you had a good trip, and are rested from your overnight stay! We have a perfect day of pleasure and pampering planned.

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.Perhaps some cafe au lait and some beignet's?

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.You may enjoy your breakfast in bed if you like. Oh, and your bath has been drawn for you. I'll meet you outside when you are ready.

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.Look! some of our dear bloggy friends are waiting for us. The robes and spa slippers are perfect and so comfortable

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.Let's just take this short cut.

Here we are!

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.Up the stairs and through the doors

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.Here is our receptionist Mlle Bijou to help you schedule your day. She doesn't speak English, so if your French is non-existent, as mine is, just speak loudly, slowly and use your hands a lot - like charades. That should work.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Whoa! Where do these people come from???? They drive one and a half miles an hour and have no concept of forward motion! They are called Sunday drivers for a good reason. They know better than to come out during the work week. They'd be shot. I left home for church with an entire 15 minutes to spare for the 3 mile drive, plus a Starbucks run. This generally works quite well. But things deteriorate immediately when a guy in a tan car pulls out in front of me on Alderman and goes one and a half miles an hour. He speeds up just as he gets to the light on US 19. HE gets through. Do I? Noooo. I have to wait for the 94 minute light to change. Florida traffic lights are SOOOOO slow. You can read a book, clean out your glove compartment, pull $37 worth of loose change out from under the seats and still have time to check your make-up and hair before it's time to go..

AARP Tan Chevy. Goes from zero to 15 in 3 minutes 42 seconds

(in fast lane with turn signal on)

.I got away from tan car man for the second time on US 19. He had managed to travel 1 1/2 blocks in a 50 MPH zone. Then he made a dead stop (no turn signal) and turned into the shopping center for whatever. I don't care. Just so long as he's not clogging up traffic.

.I turn into Starbucks and it's like the mall parking lot on Christmas Eve. I wait for 5 cars to back out and exit the lot. I get in the store, and there are only 3 people ahead of me but they are

ordering the usual 87 item coffee request. Half-half-decaf-light cream triple shot-caramel on the bottom...you know what I mean. Plus the barrista is on the phone with the supplier, and the person at the cash register apparently just walked in off the street that very morning and doesn't know how to ring anything up. AAArrgh. 200 minutes later I get my latte, but Mister 87 Item Person is spread eagled over the sugar and cream station, covering any opportunity for me to just snag one napkin (MOVE!) while he counts out sugar grains and stirs his coffee 43 swirls and takes a month to get the lid on.

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By now I am feeling so un-Christian I'm wondering if I should even go to church. But I do. Or attempt to. Mr. tan car's 3rd cousin is drifting along Nebraska Ave. He's motorized by the sea breeze perhaps at 12.2 MPH with his turn signal on, slowing to a dead stop at each intersection. We're on the one lane street now, Riviere Rd. so there's no chance of escape.

.I idle along. and along. and along. Until he comes to his last dead stop and then s-l-o-w-l-e-y turns into his church parking lot. ( I just knew he had to be a different religion than I) Finally, I am free!!! I rev the engine up to 30 MPH (posted speed limit) well, okay, 34, and get to my

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Anyone still in there?

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church with a heathen attitude. At least with my latte in hand, plus that napkin I waited for, just as the first hymn starts wafting across the lot. Appropriately enough it is "I Am Free". I say a prayer of forgiveness for my evil thoughts toward my fellow man, barrista, tan car, tan car's 3rd cousin and the cash register person and I walk inside for some soul reconditioning. Amen! Enjoy your Sunday! I was late posting this. I took a nap!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Aries horoscope: Aries live their lives simply. What is happening right now is most important to Aries. Impatience is a definite vice, and innovation is a huge strength. Aries loves to start anything new..

Aries just jumps right in.

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They have trouble sitting still. They are pioneers in whatever they do, and there is a very basic quality of bravery in these people that is unmistakable! Aries generally knows what they want, and they know the quickest route to getting it. They take shortcuts if they must, but generally everything is aboveboard. Underhanded just isn't their style. Some Aries people are bold, but even the quieter ones are brave and even plucky in their own way. Independence is their birthright. Nothing gets them going more than a fresh slate, the promise of a new day, and a brand new start.

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You can never make assumptions about who someone is when you haven't interacted socially -- that smacks of judging a book by its cover! Just because someone looks straight-laced doesn't mean that they aren't up for a good time..

She ain't your average Bo-Peep, Aries

.So just give them an invitation and see how they react. Chances are, they are going to surprise you and let their wild side show. This is their way of showing you that they trust you, so take it as a compliment. Go out and have a good time!

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Go out and have a nice dinner. Better yet, maybe we'll just have YOU for dinner!.

Aries Get Real Horoscope: So, Aries, whats with the relationship information? What are the rest of us, chopped lamb? You get advice for a love life and all we've gotten so far is business and work and home stuff.

Here's a nice business, Aries. Just leave the hot dates to Scorpio, and you go to work. Use your innovative qualities. Make a clothes line that's inexpensive enough that we can shop once in a while. And don't uses those stupid labels that poke me in the back. While you're at it, sew the buttons on so they don't fall off the first time I put them in the washing machine.

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Better yet, open up a cheap restaurant. With lamb kabobs and gyros and roast lamb. .

Oh, sorry - I meant chicken

.Don't get your feelings all knit into a little ball. I said I was sorry.

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I'll sing you a song about a little Aries, how's that.

I'm starting to feel a bit sheepish. I see we can't pull the wool over your eyes.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Marie of Voila! Vintage Postcards is hosting another Postcard Friendship Friday, and I have a postcard from the Hotel Monson in St. Augustine, Florida as it looked in 1940. St. Augustine was a pivotal point in the 1963-64 Civil Rights Movement and this hotel was visited by Dr. Martin Luther King..According to Wicipedia, "St. Augustine was the only place in Florida where Dr. Martin Luther King was arrested. This took place on June 11, 1964 on the steps of the Monson Hotel restaurant. He wrote a "Letter from the St. Augustine Jail" to his old friend, Rabbi Israel Dresner, in New Jersey, urging him to recruit rabbis to come to St. Augustine and take part in the movement. The result was the largest mass arrest of rabbis in American history on June 18, 1964 at the Monson motel." Click on the link above to read more about this and the history of St. Augustine..The above view is the second incarnation of the Monson. The original Monson House burned in 1914. The hotel was razed in 2003.

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The Old Schoolhouse in Old Town St. Augustine

.St. Augustine is the oldest continuous settlement in the United States, and was founded by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés on September 8, 1565. Menéndez first sighted land on August 28, the feast day of Augustine of Hippo, and consequently named the settlement San Agustín. Martín de Argüelles was born there one year later in 1566, the first child of European ancestry to be born in what is now the continental United States.

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St. Augustine Lighthouse

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This is a town worth visiting. There are many historic sites, wonderful restaurants and lovely Bed and Breakfast inns..

Water wheel in Old Town

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The Mister and I stayed in this room, The Coachhouse, at the Casablanca Bed and Breakfast Inn during one of our visits.

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.The description of the postcard reads" Hotel Monson, St. Augustine, Florida. Delightfully located on Matanzas Bay overlooking the Atlantic. Newest and most modern hotel in St. Augustine. Fire sprinkler system throughout. Excellent golf, bathing, fishing, boating and other sports. On (Hwy) U.S. Fla 4

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The card is postmarked twice. On the back it was postmarked in Savannah Ga. on March 25, 1940. The front is postmaried East Troy Wisconsin, March 27 1940.

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The card was mailed to East Troy, Wisconsin, a village in south east Wisconsin, and the message reads:

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Dear Claudine,

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We got your letter Sat. night. We were so glad to hear from you all. Whats all this we hear about the Prom. Daddy got real excited. We are just north of Brunswick Ga. on Highway 17 North.

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Love, Mother and Daddy

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The back story: Daddy was excited on two different levels after reading Claudine's letter about being invited to the prom. First of all, she had about withered away worrying about being invited to Prom during the weeks just prior to Mother and Daddy's timely escape to the deep south. The Drama Queen of the household had her eye on that, that, person, what's his name, Dinky or Inky or Linky Danielson and set her hat for him to take her to the Christmas Dance. Well, he showed up and hour late in a slick suit, and a bold tie, driving a souped up car and saying things like "swell" and "gal" and "okey dokey". Daddy was ever so reluctant to allow this person to remove his daughter from the premises without subjecting him to the usual grilling in the den. And now after 3 months, Daddy was mortified that this young man was not only still in the picture, but would be escorting his lovely daughter to the prom.

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Claudine had decided THIS was THE dress months ago!

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The next level of excitement had to do with Daddy's wallet, which was under constant siege from all sides by Claudine who was following in her mother's well shod footsteps. This would certainly set him back, what with a new dress, ANOTHER pair of shoes and all that frilly stuff women required to outfit themselves inside and out for these things. Why her Christmas gown wouldn't do he would never know. Claudine had even hinted that if she did not die a painful death waiting for the Prom invitation from Inky or Dinky or whatever he insisted on calling himself, that she would certainly die if she did not have a graduated pearl necklace and matching earrings just like ALL all the other girls would be wearing to Prom. Where does she get these ideas into her head. Good thing Mother remembered to bring his blood pressure medicine.

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(For another fun event - one that YOU can attend - check out yesterday's post!)

Thursday, April 23, 2009

You'll be pleased to know that despite the usual rumors and innuendo that follow after our travels, and certain video tapes, acquired by Inspector Reuchaud from Lavinia Ladyslipper's train case on the Orient Express, we have once again been given permission to visit France. I'll of course have to travel under an assumed name and use my Moroccan passport, but that's another story.

That said, I thought you might be interested in a trip to my chateau which was recently renovated and is now a day spa (an "agreement" with the government in Bordeaux to pay off my gaming debts.) (Whatever.) They are allowing me to invite all of you to Le Grande Premier on Tuesday April 28.

It's been a LONG LONG LONG winter, and I'm sure your pastie little selves could use a a bit of sun and fun and plenty of beauty and spa treatments to pamper yourselves. And a lovely room for a toes up and breakfast in bed.

Do come - and invite your friends. Make your appointments with the salon - Francois is extending his stay to tend your tresses and Henri will grace the kitchen and prepare your meals - I've told him to can the 500 calorie menu and feed us well with local cheese and butter.

Rene du Lac is offering wine therapy and says:

"Taste the pleasures of this unique wine therapy: they combine the virtues of naturally warm spring water taken from a depth of 540 metres underground, rich in minerals and oligo-elements, with vine and grape extracts. The latter have a high concentration of polyphenols which help fight against free radicals – 80% responsible for ageing. These extracts strengthen blood vessels and enhance micro-circulation.

* The Vinotherapy package: 4 treatments per day X 2 days : the 'barrel bath' or the bath in red wine or the bath in grape juice plus a 'Merlot coating', honey and wine, envigoration treatment and the peach face mask."

Mmmm, wine and peaches! Are you in? Respondez s'il vous plait in comments! See you there!

Monday, April 20, 2009

My new computer rocks. I'll get to that in a minute though, because the rocks in the pictures are what I'll tell you about first.

Besides the rocks in my head, I have rocks, minerals and crystals all over the house. I love to collect them and look at them. They decorate tables and shelves and cubbyholes in the rooms I frequent the most. To me they are a true art form - God's of course. I find them fascinating.

The picture above, is just a very small sampling of rocks that were given as gifts or that I collected myself. They are numbered and here's what they are and where they came from:

1. Petoskey stone - Michigan's state rock. It is fossilized coral from a time when Michigan was covered by a shallow salt sea and had the same weather as Florida. G

2. Slate from Harper's Ferry on the Shenandoah River. M

3. Sedimentary stone from Holland. G

4. Granite from Wright Paterson AFB in Dayton Ohio. G

5. Dinosaur egg shell - (purchased)

6. Galena (lead) from Galena, Illinois. M

7. Limestone from Hawaii. M

8. Dolomite marble from Belize. It also contains quartz and hematite. M

9. Sedimentary stone from the top of a mountain in Chile. G

10. Cert from Israel. G

(The M's mean Me -I collected them, the G's mean they are gifts.)

Little pieces of Ireland

My bonnie niece, Brigid has made several trips to Ireland, and she brought back several stones just for me from her trips! Thank you Brigid! Ireland is a bit smaller now, as part of it is in my house.

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I spent some time studying the latest batch, and was able to identify them. In telling you what they are, I'll give you a very quick lesson in rocks.

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Rocks are classified into 3 types:

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Igneous - molten magmas. These are either intrusive (formed within the earth) or extrusive (flowed out or ejected volcanic rock)

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Sedimentary - deposits laid down on the earth's surface by wind, rain or fire

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Metamorphic - existing rocks that are subject to extreme pressure or temperatures or both which alters their composition.

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What each rock is called depends on many things, including the major and minor minerals that make up the rock.

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1. The first rock in the picture was given to me by my sister, Janet - Brigid's mom. It is a piece of Connemara marble, hand carved in the shape of Ireland. Marble is a metamorphic rock, and this world renowned marble is from the green Connemara mountains. It has a greenish cast to it from the mineral olivine.

3. Granite - the most common intrusive rock on the Earth's continental surface. The main ingredients are potassium feldspar, quartz, mica and sodium.

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4. Quartz - one of the most common minerals, by weight, on the earth's surface.

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5. Chert - sedimentary nodules formed in sedimentary rock

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6. Jasper - a silicate mineral

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7. Two graywacke stones - marine sedimentary rocks

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8. Jet - an organic gem also called lignite coal made or organics and hydrocarbons. This was used in mourning jewelry during the Victorian age and has been traditionally fashioned into rosaries for monks.

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9. Micaceous sandstone - sandstone, a sedimentary rock, with mica crystals in it. Mica is a soft silicate that comes in sheets that are easily separated. It is also known as isinglass and was once used for windows.

12. Sandstone - the second most common sedimentary rock after shale. The Painted Desert is sandstone. Sandstone was used as building materials for, among others, Stonehenge, Petra, Abu Simbel and the Red Fort in Old Deli, India.

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All of the stones in the second picture were found on the beach at Bray, Ireland. They more than likely made their way to Bray from the surrounding areas: Cornwall, England, Scotland Wales and various places in Ireland, during storms, glacier movement and upheavals and are all now smoothed by the sea.

So, about my computer - I have a new one, a Toshiba, with a large bright screen. I've had it for about 6 weeks. It is a huge improvement over my old dark screened HP. The most important thing (to me) about this is how beautiful all of your blogs look on my bright shiny screen! That really rocks!